WarriorCats: Raised by foxes

Chapter Seven

Silverpaw was busy picking ticks out of Beenose's matted fur, making faces at Finchpaw behind the elder's back at the scent of the mouse bile and the poor hygiene of Beenose and his denmates. "I can't believe we have to do this for a moon," she mouthed.

"Yeah, that was a really mouse-brained idea of yours. Next time, we should leave Moonpaw out of it," the golden tom mouthed back.

Sometimes Silverpaw was glad she didn't have a littermate like Finchpaw had Moonpaw. If it wasn't for her, they never would have been caught trying to raid a fox den after sneaking out of the Gathering.

The little rat! They had been forced to bring her along after Moonpaw discovered them trying to leave. In the middle of the event they had realized she was missing just in time to be discovered by an angry leader, three angry parents, two angry mentors, and a smug Moonpaw.

She had ruined their perfect chance of revenge. A moon earlier her mother, Doveflare, had been killed by a fox out on patrol. That, and her Clan's malice towards foxes and the stories she had heard, plus her mom's specific hatred of them that Silverpaw could never quite figure out, inspired the Gathering mission. Whenever foxes were mentioned, Silverpaw noticed voices grew quiet and eyes darted towards her and away. When she walked up to them, the discussion simply stopped.

After what seemed like a season, the elders were pronounced tick-free for the day. Silverpaw burst out of the smelly den and raced to where her mentor, Fernblaze was standing with Moonpaw's mentor, Specklenose. Finchpaw skidded behind Silverpaw, dragging an amused Amberleaf.

"Can we train?" Silverpaw begged, with Finchpaw's drawn out 'please' in the background. The mentors looked at each other and shook their heads.

"No," mewed Specklenose. "You are still being punished. But my apprentice I can keep control of will be training today. Come along, Moonpaw." Specklenose had a nasal voice, and despised almost every member of the clan, Silverpaw's and Finchpaw's mentors included.

"Why don't you just get some sleep? You must be tired from staying up all night away from camp." Fernblaze's mew was kind, but firm. They would have to stay in their dens all day.

Silverpaw stomped off to the apprentice den, hating Moonpaw even more.

"This is so unfair," mewed Finchpaw loudly. "Why can't we train?"

"I know, and it's the middle of the day. I don't want to sleep."

"At least in the elder's den we get to hear stories."

"Wait," whispered Silverpaw, an idea forming. "Let's actually sleep."

"What? No way!" exclaimed Finchpaw.

"Sshhh, no listen. If we sleep now, we can wake up in the middle of the night and sneak out." She had still not given up the idea of revenge.

Finchpaw's eyes shone with excitement. "Awesome! This will be so fun!" Then he faltered. "What if we get caught again?"

"Then we're dead meat," mewed Silverpaw matter-of-factly. "But we won't get caught this time, because Moonpaw won't be along."

She settled down and fell asleep.

Silverpaw woke again when the first beams of moonlight broke through the holes in the den. She made eye contact with Finchpaw who was also awake, and turned towards the exit. There was Moonpaw, sleeping right across the only opening.

Silverpaw silently groaned. Now they would need to use the back exit she and Finchpaw discovered as new apprentices. When they found the hole it had mostly grown over, and obviously had been patched several times. With their small size they were still able to squeeze through back then, but now she wasn't so sure.

Sure enough, the hole was only a few mouse-lengths wide. She got to work pushing branches to the side and widening the hole, wincing as several thorns pierced her paw pads. Finchpaw moved to help her and finally there was a gap wide enough. Though covered in scratches, they had made it outside the den.

They crept towards Dirtplace, the way out of camp that all troublemakers used. For some reason, no one ever thought of placing a guard there.  Yet when they arrived, who was using it but Specklenose.

Silverpaw resigned herself to more thorns with a sigh.

Finally they found themselves standing in the clear forest air. It was almost moonhigh.

Silverpaw started tracking the trail back to the fox den, unsure she knew the way. She found the river dividing ThunderClan from WindClan and followed it up from there, leaving the territory. Finchpaw was following her, every once in a while glancing over his shoulder.

Finally she saw the mouth of the den peeking out of the hillside. Creeping up on the opening, she realized there was a fresh scent leading away from the den, more apparent as she stalked closer. The entire family had left only a short time ago.

"Well?" asked Finchpaw, hanging back.

"They're gone," whispered Silverpaw.

"Oh well," Finchpaw shrugged.

"No, Finchpaw, we can find them! I have their trail! They can't escape me."

"Whatever you say," Finchpaw said, and followed her.

Silverpaw frowned, confused. Finchpaw had seemed so excited earlier in the day, but now he seemed hesitant, even reluctant. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing, it's just... I know it sounds selfish, and I know how much you want to get revenge for your mother, but foxes have never done anything to me personally. And what are the chances this family is the one who killed her? Doesn't it bother you that you might be attacking innocents?"

Silverpaw snorted. "There are  no innocents. They are foxes, for StarClan's sake. They are nothing but instinct, the instinct to rip apart any innocent cats that cross their path."

"Oh," replied Finchpaw, and that seemed to put his mind at ease.

Since when does Finchpaw have a mind? Silverpaw wondered.

After that they were quiet as the followed the fox's scent. They didn't know how close the foxes were up ahead and didn't want to be noticed. After a while, Silverpaw saw a flash of a bushy tail shining in a patch of moonlight where the trees were parted.

"So close," Silverpaw mouthed. She was about to signal to attack when the family disappeared.

She ran forward, startled, and saw they had started down a small dip that led into a large, bowl shaped clearing set in the earth. It was absolutely filled with foxes. And if she had been paying attention, if she had caught up a moment sooner, she would have seen of the five foxes she had been following one was a lot smaller than the others. One that should be very familiar indeed. But instead she stared, all of her enemies in one place, her eyes shining, as she plotted her revenge. She would just have to get the rest of the clan. "Come on, Finchpaw," she called, turning away just as another little fox looked up.